The report details the BPD’s pattern of unconstitutional stops, searches and arrests disproportionately targeting African Americans, its use of excessive force and its retaliation against people engaging in constitutionally-protected expression.
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Gray’s death ignited widespread protests in Baltimore and in other cities, coming in the middle of a parade of deaths of unarmed black people during police stops or while in police custody.
The mayor has promised reforms with a sense of urgency, and next steps will be closely monitored by the federal government.
The DOJ spent more than a year monitoring the police department at the city’s request, according to CNN. Specific behavior outlined by the Justice Department include blaming victims, not taking seriously complaints by those who work in the sex trade, and refusing to acknowledge a transgender woman as a woman.
The report concludes that the relationship between the police department and Baltimore’s residents is “broken” and said that investigators discovered over the course of many interviews that people in impoverished, minority communities often felt “belittled, disbelieved and disrespected” by police officers. Independent review of police violence: The DOJ report revealed serious deficiencies in accountability that allowed unconstitutional actions to go unchecked in the BPD.
But you can’t say something like that, make us believe it, and then do nothing to weed out the bad guys.
Police practices in Baltimore “perpetuate and fuel a multitude of issues rooted in poverty and race, focusing law enforcement actions on low-income, minority communities” and encourage officers to have “unnecessary, adversarial interactions with community members”, the report said. In shocking news this week, the Justice Department said its investigation into the group had turned up more troubling information than expected.
At a joint press conference Wednesday the head of the Department’s Civil Rights Division, Vanita Gupta, summarized the findings.
Officers also routinely stop and question individuals without cause or a legitimate suspicion that they’re involved in criminal activity, the report says: No charges were filed in 26 of every 27 pedestrian stops.
Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and Police Commissioner Kevin Davis acknowledged the longstanding problems and said they had started improvements even before the report was completed.
The 160-page report, which was made public on Wednesday, is the culmination of a yearlong investigation, and claims that BPD officers routinely conducted unlawful stops and often used excessive force in low-income black neighborhoods. The statement also said the report didn’t consider efforts by his administration to reform the police department and improve training.
The Justice Department has undertaken similar wide-reaching investigations into the police in Chicago, Cleveland, Albuquerque and Ferguson, Missouri, among other cities.
From 2010-2016, African Americans accounted for 95 percent of 400 individuals that were stopped at least ten times.
A disproportionate number of these stops by the Baltimore Police happened within two neighborhoods that represent only 11 percent of Baltimore’s population, but which were predominately African-American. Without comprehensive use of force standards that include training on de-escalation and crisis intervention, police interactions will remain risky for both police and those they encounter.
“Nearly everyone who spoke to us. agreed the Baltimore Police Department needs sustainable reform”, Gupta said.
Gray’s death, which triggered rioting captured on live television, was one of several recent killings of unarmed Black men by police across the country.
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“Over the next few months, we will put in place a concrete plan for change as well as concrete plans for a new culture for the good of the city, for the good of the police department, and for the good of the people the department protects”, she said.
